First Amendment and Free Speech in U.S. Schools and Social Media

Explaining a Constitutional Right as a Civil Liberty

One important constitutional right in the United States is the First Amendment. This is imperative for the country’s citizens as it guarantees them fundamental civil liberties and rights such as freedom of speech, religion, assembly, and the right to address the government (Stone et al., 2020). Thus, it guarantees all people that they can have the necessary freedom in the country and express their opinions as they want. What is described in the First Amendment is civil rights because it provides people with specific powers that no one can take away from them. In this way, the First Amendment allows people to fully participate in public life without risk to health or without public and state stigma.

A Supreme Court Case Related to the Constitutional Right

One of the famous cases of the U.S. The Supreme Court case associated with the First Amendment is Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District. This case occurred in 1969, and the reason was to study the degree of freedom of speech students can have (U.S. Courts, n.d.). The case gained publicity as several children in the city wore black armbands to express their opinions against the Vietnam War. However, this was why the school removed students from lessons.

This is relevant to the First Amendment because the decision to suspend students directly restricted their right to freedom of speech. After that, a trial began where the Supreme Court ruled based on the First Amendment that the rights of people to free speech are imperative and are present in any place, including at school (U.S. Courts, n. d.). This decision established that students have the legal right to express their opinions about what they want.

Current Policies and Issues Shaped by the Constitutional Right

The current social media restriction policy affects the influence of the chosen constitutional right. The First Amendment impacts this policy because it does not allow for restrictions on free speech. The moderation of social networks is a pressing issue since these private corporations can set their own rules (Hooker, 2019).

Nevertheless, censoring some information can bring adverse effects; even if the data is incorrect, people still have the right to express it. Simultaneously monitoring compliance with the First Amendment and ensuring that all speech on platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube does not carry disinformation, hate speech, or intolerance is difficult (Hooker, 2019). Although the boundaries of censorship are somewhat blurred, social networks manage not to cross them for a long time.

References

Hooker, M. P. (2019). Censorship, free speech & Facebook: applying the First Amendment to social media platforms via the public function exception. Wash. JL Tech. & Arts, 15, 36. Web.

Stone, G. R., Seidman, L. M., Sunstein, C. R., Tushnet, M. V., & Karlan, P. S. (2020). The first amendment. Aspen Publishing.

U.S. Courts. (n.d.). Facts and case summary – Tinker v. Des Moines. Web.